On the day I got kidnapped, my dad was too busy to notice. He was always wrapped up in his world of deals, money, and shady connections. Me? I was just another thing in the background, not important enough to focus on.
It was a regular afternoon for me. I liked wandering the city, getting lost in the crowds when I needed to clear my head. Normally, the noise and chaos of the streets helped me forget everything. But that day, something felt... off. I couldn’t put my finger on it. The air felt heavy, like something bad was about to happen. But I ignored it. I mean, what could really happen to me? I was Selene Martinez, daughter of one of the most feared men in the city. No one would dare mess with me.
Except, someone did.
I still don’t know exactly how it happened. One minute, I was crossing the street, and the next, someone had their hands on me. A guy grabbed me from behind, his arm locked around my neck, and before I knew it, I was shoved into a van. Everything happened so fast, like a blur.
I tried to fight, but it was pointless. The guy holding me barely flinched. He was tall, bulky, and clearly knew what he was doing. As soon as the van doors slammed shut, he turned to me with a grin. “Your daddy’s not here to save you now, princess,” he sneered.
I kicked, screamed, did everything I could, but no one was around to hear me. Or maybe they just didn’t care. The city kept moving, like it always did, and I was just another girl lost in the crowd.
By the time the van finally stopped, I had no idea where I was. They dragged me out into some abandoned warehouse that looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. The air smelled damp and moldy, and the place was trashed. It was the kind of place you didn’t want to be left alone in. And yet, there I was—alone with a guy who seemed all too happy to hurt me.
He threw me onto a metal chair and tied my body. For a few minutes, he just stood there, watching me like he was waiting for me to break. I wanted to scream, but fear had my throat closed up. My mind was racing, trying to think of what I could do. Then I remembered—I still had my phone in my pocket. Maybe, just maybe, I could call for help!
With shaky hands, I managed to pull it out. The only person I could think to call was my dad. He had to come, right? He always said he’d protect me, no matter what. So I dialed his number, praying he’d answer.
It rang twice before he picked up. “What is it, Selene?” His voice was sharp, annoyed.
“Dad,” I gasped. “Dad, I’m in trouble. Someone—”
“Selene, I’m busy. What do you want?”
My stomach dropped. “No, Dad, I’m serious! I’ve been kidnapped! You have to—”
“Not now, Selene. I don’t have time for your drama.” And with that, he hung up.
I stared at my phone, disbelief washing over me. He thought I was lying. He thought this was just another one of my stunts to get attention. I’d done stupid things before, sure, but this? This was real. And he didn’t believe me.
The thug noticed the phone in my hand and ripped it away, smashing it to the ground. The screen shattered, much like my hope. “Daddy’s not coming to save you!” he laughed, shaking his head. “He’s too busy making deals to care about you.”
His words stung, more than I wanted to admit. But deep down, I knew they were true. My father had always been about the business first, family second. And right now, I was learning just how far down the list I really was.
The thug pulled out a knife and started twirling it between his fingers, his grin widening. “Now, we’re gonna have some fun. And when me and my men done with your body, maybe I’ll send a piece of you back to dear old Dad. See if that gets his attention.”
Fear froze me in place as he moved closer. There was nothing I could do. No one was coming for me, and I was completely at his mercy. What followed was a blur of pain and terror. He was methodical, taking his time, making sure I felt every second of it.
I lost track of how long it lasted. Hours? Days? It all blended together in a haze of agony. At some point, I blacked out, hoping I wouldn’t wake up again.
But I did.
When I opened my eyes, the room was empty. The thug was gone, leaving me tied up in the same chair. My wrists burned from the ropes, but I forced myself to move, tugging at the knots until I was free. My body ached with every movement, but I managed to get up and stumble toward the door.
Just as my fingers grazed the door handle, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Before I could turn around, before I could react, a blinding pain exploded in the back of my skull.
CRACK.
I didn’t even see it coming.
The bat smashed into my head multiple time with such force, the everything went black. My legs gave out beneath me, and I crumpled to the floor, the cold concrete rushing up to meet me. My body lay limp as blood pooled around my head, soaking into the dirt and dust.
There were no more thoughts, no more pain, no more fear.
My father didn’t come.
He chose his empire over me.
Chapter 2It had been three days since I was dumped at the market like yesterday’s trash, and my father, Martinez, still had no clue I was gone. His head was somewhere else, focused on the new gang threatening his empire. They were getting bolder, going after his allies and leaving their mutilated bodies as warnings. It was clear—they were coming for him next.
My dad sat in his dim office, his face tight with anger as he scanned the latest report. “This isn’t just a turf war anymore,” he growled, slamming his fist onto the desk. “They’re sending a damn message!”
His men stood around, clearly nervous. Nobody liked it when dad was mad. He’d built his empire from scratch, ruling the streets with iron fists. For years, no one dared challenge him, but now, this new gang was trying to break him, make him look weak.
But if there was one thing my dad wasn’t, it was weak.
“I want everyone on this!” he ordered, his voice cutting through the room. “Find out who they are, where they live, what they eat. I want them all dead by the end of the week.”
One of his men, Rafael, hesitated before stepping forward. “Boss, we found another body last night. Same as the others. This one was dumped at the docks.”
My dad's jaw clenched. “One of ours?”
Rafael nodded. “Yeah. Same mutilations—hands cut off, body trashed. Whoever’s doing this isn’t just killing—they’re making it personal.”
My dad leaned back, thinking. This wasn’t about the usual things—territory, money. This gang wanted something bigger. With each new body, it was clear—they were coming straight for him.
“We hit them tonight,” Martinez said, his voice low. “No more waiting. I want blood.”
His men moved fast, leaving him alone in the dim room. He sat there, plotting his next move, completely unaware that his own blood had already been spilled. I smiled bitterly watching him.
While he was busy planning, they found my body.
I had been lying in a pile of trash for days, forgotten, discarded. It wasn’t a search party or a family member who found me. No, it was a beggar man scavenging around for food, that led them to me. The smell was too strong to ignore.
A patrol officer heard the beggar scream for help and came to check it out. He wasn’t expecting to find a body, let alone one as wrecked as mine.
“Holy shit!” the officer muttered, pulling out his radio with shaky hands. “I need backup. Now.”
The place was swarming with cops in minutes. They couldn’t identify me right away. I was brutally killed and torture that my face was too damaged, and like the others, my hands were missing. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing.
“Another one,” one of the detectives muttered, looking down at my lifeless almost naked body. “These guys are getting bold.”
Martinez, my dad of course, didn’t hear about any of this immediately. He was too busy plotting revenge, getting ready to send his men out for a bloodbath. I wasn’t important to him. I was just a shadow in the background of his empire, easy to overlook.
By the time Rafael got the call about my body, Martinez had already set his men loose on the streets. They were gearing up for retaliation, clueless that they had already lost one of their own.
Rafael approached Martinez cautiously, phone still in his hand. “Boss, you need to hear this.”
Dad didn’t even look up. “What?”
“There’s been another body found,” Rafael said, his voice quieter than usual. “A girl, at the market. It’s bad, boss. Real bad.”
He frowned. “One of ours?”
“We’re not sure,” Rafael admitted. “Body’s... too messed up to tell. But the cops think it’s connected to the others.”
For a moment, my dad said nothing, just thinking. Another body. Another victim in this war. But something about this didn’t sit right. The timing was off. The location—it didn’t fit the pattern.
“Send someone to watch the cops,” he ordered, standing from his desk. “I want to know everything they find out. If it’s those bastards, I need to know who the girl was and why she was targeted.”
Rafael nodded, but dad could sense the unease in his eyes. He had worked with Rafael long enough to know when something felt off. This wasn’t just another random hit. There was more to this than either of them could see.
As Martinez went back to his plans for revenge, I stayed there, unseen and unknown. A ghost in the chaos of his world. My body had been found, but the truth of who I was was still hidden. Martinez didn’t know yet that the girl lying in that pile of trash was his own daughter. He didn’t know that the war he was fighting had already cost him something far more precious than he could ever imagine.
And when he will finally found out, it would be too late.
Chapter 3They wrapped my body up, zipped tight in a black bag, and shipped it back to the morgue like just another piece of evidence. No one knew who I was yet. Just another nameless girl left to rot in the city’s underbelly.
"It’s gonna take days to ID her," the forensic expert muttered, shaking his head as they loaded my body into the van. "The face is too damaged for a visual, and with no fingerprints, DNA is our only option."
Martinez would never know it was me. Not right away. And even if he did, I wonder if it would’ve mattered. After all, I was never his priority.
For as long as I can remember, Martinez always favored Leo—his adopted son, his enforcer, his right hand in the Mafia. Leo was everything I wasn’t. Loyal. Ruthless. Willing to do whatever it took to climb the ranks of my father’s criminal empire. Meanwhile, I was the daughter kept at arm’s length, shut out from the family business as if I didn’t belong.
Martinez was a king, and Leo was his chosen heir. Me? I was just an afterthought, something to be hidden away.
As I floated there, watching them transport my lifeless body, my mind wandered back to all the times I had tried to be seen by him, to matter. But it was never enough. Martinez never wanted me involved. He made that clear from day one.
Growing up in that house, it was easy to feel invisible. While Martinez and Leo sat at the table, discussing deals, territory, and power, I was always sent to my room. I wasn’t part of that world—wasn’t meant to be. Martinez would look at me with those cold eyes, always distant, like I was some fragile thing he didn’t know what to do with.
"Stay out of it, Selene," he’d say. "This isn’t your place."
But Leo? Leo was always welcome at his side. Martinez molded him, shaped him into the perfect soldier, while I watched from the sidelines, wondering why I wasn’t enough.
I guess part of me had always known the truth. Martinez wasn’t the kind of man who could love. Not really. He ruled with fear, with control, and there was no room for sentiment. Not for someone like me.
Even when I was a child, I remember how he looked at me—like I was a burden, a reminder of something he didn’t want to deal with. I was a girl in a man’s world, and that made me useless to him.
Leo, though, he thrived in that world. He was everything Martinez wanted in a son—strong, loyal, obedient. They were a team, a perfect match in their pursuit of power. And me? I was the girl locked out of their kingdom, left to wander the edges of their lives, unseen.
I used to wonder if things could’ve been different. If maybe, just once, Martinez could’ve looked at me and seen something more than just his daughter. But the truth is, I never had a chance. Not with Leo there. Leo was his favorite, the one who could do no wrong, and I was just... there.
In the end, I learned to keep my distance. It was easier that way. If Martinez didn’t want me, then I wouldn’t want him either. I built walls, put up defenses, and told myself I didn’t care. But it was a lie, wasn’t it? Deep down, I always wanted to matter to him. To be something more than just his forgotten child.
As the van carrying my body pulled away, my spirit lingered, watching the city streets pass by. I wondered if Leo even knew I was gone. Probably not. He had his own problems, his own battles to fight for Martinez’s empire. I was never part of his plans.
But there was something more to it. Something I never understood. Why did Martinez keep me at such a distance? Why did he never let me in, even when I wanted to prove myself?
Maybe it was because I wasn’t cut out for that life. Maybe he saw something in me that was too soft, too weak for the world he had built. Or maybe... maybe he just didn’t care. I’ll never know.
I thought back to the last time I saw him. It was months ago, at one of those endless family dinners where I sat in silence, picking at my food while Martinez and Leo talked business. As usual, I wasn’t part of the conversation. I never was.
"Leo’s making progress on the west side," Martinez had said, his tone full of pride. "We’ll own those streets by the end of the year."
Leo had nodded, a confident smile on his face. "I’ve got it under control."
And me? I sat there, invisible, wondering why I even bothered showing up. It wasn’t like they’d notice if I was gone.
Now I really was gone, and I doubted either of them would care. I wasn’t part of their world, not really. Just a shadow on the fringes of their empire, easily forgotten.
But as my body was wheeled into the morgue, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Martinez was about to learn something he couldn’t ignore. His precious empire was crumbling, and soon enough, he’d find out that I—his own daughter—was caught in the middle of it.
Not that it would change anything. Not for a man like him. I was never part of the plan, just collateral damage in a war I never wanted to be part of.
And now, I was nothing more than another body in the morgue.
Chapter 4It had been a week since I vanished, and life went on like nothing happened. I had hoped someone would notice my absence, but as I drifted through the familiar places I once called home, it felt like I had never existed at all.
The first sign of concern came from Leo. He had that uncanny ability to sense when something was off, especially when it involved family. Fiercely loyal to my father, Martinez, he was always the one who kept an eye on things. But even he seemed oblivious, too caught up in the chaos of the family business. It took my absence from an important business event for him to finally catch on.
The night of the gathering arrived, a lavish celebration meant to toast another successful deal with one of their allies. Laughter and the clinking of glasses echoed throughout the mansion, creating a stark contrast to my silence. I was gone, and no one cared enough to look for me.
“Where’s Selene?” Leo’s voice cut through the chatter as he approached my father, who was deep in conversation with a couple of associates. Leo’s brow was furrowed with concern. “She hasn’t shown up.”
Martinez glanced over, momentarily distracted from the business talk. “She probably got caught up in something,” he replied dismissively, waving a hand like my absence didn’t matter.
“Aren’t you worried? This isn’t like her,” Leo pressed, his voice low but insistent. I imagined him leaning in closer, trying to get my father to see sense. He could be intimidating when he wanted to be.
Martinez shrugged, his focus drifting back to the deals and numbers swirling around him. “There are more important things to worry about than her. We have a rival gang to crush, and I don’t have time to babysit.”
“She’s your daughter, Dad!” Leo shot back, a rare edge creeping into his tone. “You can’t just ignore her. What if something’s wrong?”
Martinez’s expression hardened, annoyance creeping into his features. “Selene is an adult. She can take care of herself. We have business to handle.”
Leo’s jaw clenched as he stepped back, frustration radiating from him. He was always the dutiful son, doing his best to keep Martinez happy, but my absence was starting to crack his facade. I felt the tension building, a reminder of how quickly loyalty could be tested.
As I floated nearby, watching the exchange, a pang of sadness hit me, mixed with betrayal. I wanted to scream, to let Leo know I was still here, that I hadn’t just vanished. But all I could do was watch him grapple with a father who would rather focus on his empire than acknowledge his own flesh and blood.
The evening rolled on, filled with laughter and celebrations while I lingered in the background, unseen and unheard. I floated through the room, watching as Martinez held court, charming his guests and basking in their adoration. I had always been a shadow in his light, and now I felt even more invisible.
Amidst the clinking of glasses and the sound of music, the weight of my absence pressed heavily on my chest. I had wanted to be part of this world, to share in the laughter and success. But as the night wore on, I realized how futile that desire had been. Martinez had never wanted me here, and now I was just a ghost haunting the edges of their perfect lives.
As the evening began to wind down, I watched Leo mingle with the guests, putting on a brave face even as worry clouded his eyes. He was the one who truly cared, the one who noticed when something was off. I wanted to reach out, to let him know I was still here, still his sister, but the words wouldn’t come.
Hours passed, and as guests began to leave, their laughter fading into the night, Leo lingered for a moment longer. His expression was somber as he looked around, probably searching for a sign of me. I felt a flicker of hope that he might realize I was gone, that he might search for me, but that moment passed as quickly as it came.
Eventually, he walked away, leaving the mansion behind. I floated there, lost in my thoughts, feeling more alone than ever. Did he even realize how much I craved his support, his acknowledgment? I had spent years trying to find a way to be seen, to be accepted by this family, and now it felt like I was just a forgotten memory.
The night air was crisp as I drifted through the empty halls, each room a reminder of the life I once had. I remembered the birthdays and holidays spent in this house, trying to make my father proud, trying to fit into a mold that was never meant for me.
But no more. I was done chasing after their approval. I was tired of being the invisible daughter, the afterthought. At that moment, I made a silent promise to myself: I would find a way to be more than just a ghost haunting the edges of my father’s life. I would not let them forget me!